ASTRO NUTS!
Houston heads to Series; fans say Yanks for the memories
IT’S OVER.
The Bronx Bombers got their Astros kicked in Houston Saturday night, dashing hopes of making it to the World Series.
Game Seven of the American League Championship Series ended with a 4-0 Yankee loss to the Astros in Houston.
But in the Bronx, there was pacing. There was cursing. There was crying. And there were vows that there’s most definitely next year.
Evan Gattis drew first blood in the fourth inning, and his home run turned out to be the only cut the Astros needed.
In Houston, the boisterous crowd grew even louder with the solo swat.
More than 1,500 miles east, at Stan’s Sports Bar near Yankee Stadium, the rowdy crowd went silent after starting the game with chants and cheers.
Staten Island native Jeff Vetrano said he wasn’t built for a nail-biter like this.
“Some people can take the pressure. Not me. I want a nice, easy win without fear.”
The 30-year-old didn’t get his wish. As the game ground on, he paced up and down the bar room, breathing deeply and posting his elbows up by a window.
The Yankees came close to evening the score in the fifth, but Greg Bird was called out at the plate.
Yankee fans screamed and cursed at the bar’s television sets on the play. It could’ve been a different game if the call went the other way, 33-year-old Upper West Sider Jaycob Burns said later. “That kind of sapped the momentum out.” In the same inning, Houston rubbed salt in the wound, starting with José Altuve’s solo homer into right field. Fans at Stan’s turned away from the TV and shook their heads. And when Brian McCann’s double later in the inning put the Yanks four runs behind, fear in the bar turned to dread. Andrew Cahalan, 26, of Long Island, walked and stared in a corner of the bar as his girlfriend, Kristen Kelleher, 26, who lives in Hoboken, covered her mouth with both hands. “We’re in a lot of trouble,” Cahalan declared. Inside Stan’s, there were chants of “Let’s Go Yankees!” But there were more foul-mouthed rants — like one that happened when Aaron Judge struck out in the eighth inning.
On the screens, a solitary Judge fan — with his pinstripe jersey and judicial wig — could be seen in a sea of Astros fans at Minute Maid Park.
When Bird flied out to center in the ninth, reality set in: the Yankees were done for the year.
Some were philosophical and kept it in perspective.
“Success was built on defeat,” Paul Mujica, a 44-year-old from the Upper West Side, said. “There’s no success if you don’t struggle.”
Daniel Sanchez, 40, of the Bronx, said, “It’s a rebuilding team. Next year I think we are gonna take it.”
Others weren’t ready to look ahead. “I’m hurting right now,” cried Tatiana Ocampo, 24, of Elizabeth, N.J.